Massey Agrees to Medical Monitoring in Slurry Case

Massey Energy Co. said Thursday it will create a medical monitoring fund to provide health screenings for hundreds of southern West Virginia residents suing the company over claims it poisoned their wells with coal slurry.

General Counsel Shane Harvey said the deal was reached even though a second mediation attempt in Charleston this week failed to settle other issues in the long-running lawsuit against Virginia-based Massey and a subsidiary, Rawl Sales & Processing.

Harvey said that while Massey is confident its operations didn't affect the plaintiffs' water supplies, "We hope that the medical monitoring program will go a long way toward easing the plaintiffs' concerns and leading to a fair and complete resolution of all issues."